I never thought I'd be staring down a popstar who was gearing up to pitch a kickball at me, but life throws you in funny directions. Part of me did want Evy to sneak a quick grab in before I kicked, but with Zeta and her friends nearby, that could get pretty awkward if anyone spotted us. Pippi was already on third base by the time I got to the plate. Kitty Kilander bounced the ball a few times, clearly not seeing me as anything worth paying attention to. I hoped I'd prove her wrong there.
That said, my desire to make Kitty regret underestimating me almost flopped right away, as I practically kicked the ball right into her hands. Luckily it was a bit off course, bouncing out of her hands, allowing me to jog to first base. There were a smattering of cheers from the crowd, but mostly they just made noise, which added a distracting factor to the proceedings.
It hit me while waiting on first that I wasn't sure why I was doing this. I mean, the obligation of my coworkers and peers, sure. But did I care enough to want to win a mat ball game? I looked to Zeta in the stands, and she was cheering me on. She and her friends had been put through a lot because this rival school that was basically an absurd institution that shouldn't be allowed to function let alone be seemingly completely unchecked for all the shit they pulled on the school my sister went to, and the school I worked at now. There wasn't much I could do in that moment for the big systematic issues, but I could do my best to obliterate them in mat ball. Even though I'd already biffed the first kick, I felt like I just had a power up like a character in Evy's favorite anime about the magic concrete construction folks. I clenched my fist, and right as Evy kicked, I ran for the next base, not waiting this time for potential sneaky fun time with Evy. I somehow made it all the way to third base, getting there just as Pippi made it home.
"Um, is this ball regulation or whatever?" Kitty yelled as she bounced the ball a few times. "Because I'm the pro athlete here and I should have been easily able to stop anyone from getting any runs."
"We have fairly high end gym equipment for a high school, I'll have you know," Caya said.
"'We have fairly high end...' that's so boring!" Kitty sighed. "What are we even playing for, do we win something?"
"This is mainly for bragging rights." Caya said.
"Ugh, why didn't we pick a prize!" Kitty said.
The two continued arguing, and Evy and I locked eyes, both of us across from each other with me at third base and her at first. She shrugged in a manner that said, "I wouldn't go for it, but maybe it would work for you?" With that motivation as well as my previous power up, I bolted for home base, dodging a throw from Kitty at the last second.
"Great work!" Mahina gave me a high five that really hurt.
"OK, two points? That's so stupid." Kitty said. "Not even remotely fair. And you know what that means?"
"I don't really care," Caya said.
"That means! That I'm gonna start taking this really seriously," Kitty said grimly. "And I'm also gonna come up with something really embarrassing for you all to do when you lose."
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